Angry at God - Jonah 4: 1-11

07/28/19 “Angry at God" Jonah 4: 1-11

Have you ever been angry with God? Or disappointed in what God choose to do or not do? Have you said “yes, Lord, I love you” but acted like you loved your own thoughts and ways more?

If this has ever been you, then I have a Biblical character that you can relate to - Jonah. We are now in our final week of our sermon series focusing on the prophet Jonah. 

I think there is so much in the story of Jonah that many of us can relate to - fleeing from God, reluctantly following God, thinking that we know better than God. You name it, the prophet Jonah has been there. 

Where we pick up in our story this morning - Jonah has followed God’s instructions, albeit maybe not ethusastically, and has told Ninevah that the destruction of God awaits them, crying out “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Then Jonah hunkered down to actually watch the promised destruction fall upon the city he despised in his heart. Only it didn’t happen. 

Perhaps because of the words of Jonah, or because of the stirrings of God in their own hearts, the Ninevites did the unexpected and they repented. They turned back to God! 

Only Jonah couldn’t get on board with celebrating that. Often when we hear the story of the Prodigal Son we talk about how heaven rejoices when even one lost son or daughter repents and comes to God. Only the older brother couldn’t join in that celebration. In a lot of ways, Jonah is like that older brother. Refusing to praise God for transforming the city of Ninevah.

And what does Jonah have to say for himself? See this, God! This is why I didn’t want to follow your instructions in the first place! This is why I ran the other direction and tried to flee your presence and way. Because I knew, just knew, that you would show mercy. And now, I would just rather give up than continue on.

Wow. Strong words from the prophet. But how many times have we been there. Wanting God to bring punishment and destruction upon people instead of showing them saving grace? How many times we wanted our way over the mercy of God?

And then Jonah went off to pout. I would call this a full on adult tempertantrum. He sulks over what, over the mercy of God! Mercy being shown to those he would consider to be enemies. 

But even then, God didn’t leave Jonah alone. God sent this bush to protect Jonah from the sun. To bring him comfort. And that made Jonah happy. Or happy at least until God also sent a worm to come and consume the bush - leaving Jonah once again saying that he would rather just give up then continue on. 

Enter a powerful question. A question that God had asked Jonah once before and never got an answer from the prophet. “Is it right for you to be angry?” In so many ways this is akin to the questions that God asked Job in the midst of his suffering, “Where were you?” And “Can you?” And “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”

Why is Jonah so angry? What is he displeased about? That things did not go the way he wanted. After God forgave him, after God rescued him, he could not except that God would show that same mercy and grace to others. He reluctantly followed the call of God after being spit out of the belly of the fish, but he wanted to do it on his own terms, with his own outcomes - the total destruction of this city that was before him. His heart didn’t break for this city. He didn’t want them to turn back to God. He was angry at God for showing the same mercy to others that had been show to him. 

How many of us have been there? Trying to bargain with God. Or get what we want out of following God. ‘I’ll follow you God, but I expect you to ….’ Or “I guess I’ll go to those people God but you better do….” Even if we never say it out loud, it takes root in our hearts and chokes at our very souls like an overgrown weed.

The truth is there isn’t bargaining with God, my friends. We are either obedient to God, or we aren’t. We either willingly follow God or we don’t. If we think we can manipulate or control the will of God, we can’t. The prophet Jonah tells us that plain and clear. Yet, we still try to live our lives as if we are in control and God simply does our bidding. 

God asks Jonah if he really has any reason to be angry. And the implied answer is no. The way of God is the way of God. By the grace and mercy of God we invited to be part of the work of the Kingdom, but we are simply the servant not the master. We follow the will and way of God and God alone. God was willing to go so far and so long to reach Jonah’s heart and give him an opportunity to serve God and be part of the conversion of an entire city and he missed seeing that. Missed the opportunity to praise God because he was so caught up in what he wanted and what he expected.

Of course, Jonah was not the only person sent to the perishing. To bring hope to those in dispare. Prophets came after him. And our savior came after them. Jesus who said to his early disciples and us as an extension to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Did you notice what Jesus said there? “Go”. Not, let’s negotiate. Not what do you expect out of this. Not what do you want to get for us. Go. Go for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Go for the sake of those who do not yet know the love of God. Just go. 

The fourth chapter and final parts of the whole book of Jonah end in a really interesting way. With God reminding Jonah that he was more concerned with a bush then the people of Ninevah. The absolute final words are God asking Jonah this, “And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

The end. 

It’s not very expected or satisfying is it? But maybe that’s the point. 

The apostle Paul wrote to the church of Corinth, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Jonah didn’t understand. 

We don’t always understand. 

But we still go. 

Go because people are perishing. 

Go because the world is hurting.

Go because there are still people who do not know the Savior.

It’s not about us, friends, and what we want or what we expect. It’s not about our sense of justice. Because here’s the truth. None of us would be here today without the mercy that God has shown to us. So if God wants to extend that mercy to others, we don’t get to have a say in that. That is the work and will of God. We are simply the servants who go. Amen. 

Turning Around

Months and months ago, way back in February and again in March, I promised you that one day we would return to the story of Jonah. We have arrived at that day, my friends. For the next three weeks we are going to be exploring together chapters 2-4 of the book of Jonah. Why not chapter 1? Well, we discussed it in depth back in February one Sunday, but also because we so often talk about that part of the story. The story of Jonah hearing a call from God and running away. The story of Jonah being swallowed up into the belly of a giant fish. 

This sermon series is about what happens next. 

From inside of the belly of the fish, what does Jonah do? He prays. Chapter 2 is a prayer, Church, that Jonah lifts up. Lifts up out of a place of yes, desperation, but also acknowledging that it is his own actions that brought him to this place, and even here, he is not so far from God that he cannot pray. 

But here is what I don’t want us to miss. This is also the first prayer that Jonah prays to God since he left Israel on that boat to Tarish. Jonah has not prayed since fleeing God, probably because he is afraid about what God is going to say. 

Have you ever been there friends? Been in that place where you find yourself not praying to God? There are often two paths to cutting off communication with our Lord. The first is what I like to call the slow, but slippery slop. You are too tired or too busy to pray one day. And then one day bleeds into the next until you look back and realize its been a really long time since you prayed to God.

This is not that. 

This is path number two. The path where we intentionally do not pray to God. We don’t pray to God because we are ashamed of something that we have done. Or we are afraid of what God is going to say. This is the path where we try to hide from God, my friends. But as Jonah found out, that doesn’t really work.

Because our God will go so far just to get our attention. Just to get us to this place of repentance. 

For that is the prayer Jonah is praying, is it not? Saying, O God, “As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord”. In other words, I tried to live a life without listening to God. I tried to run away. And guess what? It didn’t work. Now O, God. I have to turn back to you. There is something in my very spirit, that is connecting me back to you. 

The greek word for repentance, literally means to turn around. To make a 180 degree change. But in order to repent, my friends, you have to be willing to acknowledge that you missed the mark. You. Not God. You. You have sinned. You have fallen short. You have left God. 

Repentance is not just about changing our heart, but about changing our behavior as well. Jonah, in his prayer says that originally he wondered, how shall I look again upon your holy temple? And by the the end of his prayer he says, “I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you” This is just one way that Jonah changed both his heart and his behavior. From not being able to be in the presence of God to being prepare to make a sacrifice. From not being able to face God in prayer to offering this prayer. From acknowledging that he ran away to being willing to go where God wants him to go and say what God wants him to say. Jonah is ready for a change. 

One of the most powerful worship moments that I had in seminary didn’t take place in a local church. Or in a seminary worship service. It took place cleaning up. Cleaning up after a worship service in the chapel and setting up for what was going to come next. There was a song that was in my heart that I just couldn’t let go of by Mark Miller. “Lord, I’m ready for a change.Only you can make me change.” It just couldn’t be contained in my spirit, so I just started to sing. I didn’t even notice someone else across the chapel who had been apparently humming the same song and it broke forth from his spirit as well. We just got louder and louder, singing this song as a cry unto God. 

I don’t know what lead that person to that song that day. I honestly can’t even remember why it was so urgently pressing on my heart. But I do remember the tears of the person who neither of us noticed at the back of the chapel silently crying as we sang, harmonizing over these words that became a prayer. We had church that day, my friends. And no sermon was even needed. 

Those words that we sang were a cry to repentance. And friends, when we are in that place, that place where Jonah was, deep in the darkness of running from God, we, too, need a new start. Where we hand our heart back to God and say, Lord, I tried to do this on my own and its just not working. 

When we repent, God is waiting with open arms. 

What I find interesting in the book of Jonah, is that the prophet, this man of God, had so hardened his heart against God that he was the last to recognize his need to repent. Back in chapter 1 a large storm comes up out of no where, and its the sailors on the boat, the sailors who didn’t really recognize this God of Israel up to this point, who are the first folks who repent and cry out to God for forgiveness. For Jonah that cry comes much later in chapter two. After being swallowed alive. After having time to think. After.

Friends, what leads us each to repentance is going to be something different. For some of us, it may come easier than others. But we all stand in need of the a savior. 

We all are in need of an opportunity to repent.

To that end, we are going to take the next few moments to be in prayerful reflection. In your bulletin you should have found a black piece of paper. I would encourage you to write on that paper the places in your life where you need to repent. Where you are ready for a change. This is just for you. No one else will see it. So let us spend time in prayer, calling out to God. Amen. 

The Eighth Blessing - Matthew 5:10

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

What an interesting way to end this particular sermon series. For the last several weeks, we  have been exploring together the blessings of the Beatitudes, which are often so different from the blessings of the standards of the world around us. 

We have talked about how the Beaititudes come out of the call found in Matthew 4:17 to repent for the Kingdom of God is near. The Beatitudes are not just sayings, dear friends. Instead, they are signposts pointing us to the Kingdom of God, that also call us to an attitude of repentance for the ways we have failed to live into them. 

So what is this persecution for righteousness sake that Jesus is speaking of in this particular Beatitude? If we look at Matthew 5:10, in light of verses Matthew 25: 31-46, we find that righteousness is not just what we believe, and what we say, but how we live our daily lives. Blessed are those who are oppressed because they seek to serve the least of these. Those that everyone looks down upon. Those that are discarded.

So often we think of persecution coming from without, from those that do not believe in Jesus Christ, but with this as our model for righteouness sake, it shows that sometimes the oppression and the persecution can come from within the flock as well. 

What does righteous living look like for you and how is it a call to courageous living?

The Eighth Blessing - Matthew 5:10

Between my freshman and sophomore year of college, I transferred schools. By far, the hardest part of the transfer was leaving behind my friends and having to meet all new people. However, I quickly fell in with a group of TCKs and MKs. Now those aren’t abbreviations that we usually hear so let me explain. MKs are Missionary Kids. Many of their parents were still serving around the world in a variety of locations, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, while they traveled back to the United States for college. TCKs are Third Culture Kids. These are individuals who are raised in a culture different from their parents, or in a place different from their home country during key years in their development. So, if you were born in the United States, which is where your parents grew up, but for a good chunk of your childhood and youth you lived somewhere else, you are a TCK.

I loved being with this group of friends. I had friends who grew up in Russia, Indonesia, the UK, Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire, Bolivia, Nigeria, and so many other places. But here’s the thing about having such amazing friends whose parents were sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world - I have very little tolerance when I hear people say that they feel that they are being persecuted for their faith in this country. 

Now I realize that seems like quite a bold statement - but why do I feel that way? The dictionary defines being persecuted as to experience oppression or harassment for either who you are or what you believe. For sure, people may not always agree with us being Christian in the United States. But my friends and their parents often put their lives on the line in order to teach people about Jesus. There was a great risk in proclaiming the name of Jesus. Therefore, I get uncomfortable when we throw around the word persecuted when what we really mean is inconvenienced or perhaps even not liked. But there is a chasm between that and oppression. 

But for the people Jesus was speaking to, they would understand deep oppression for their beliefs. Fast forward past this moment when Jesus is speaking to the sixth chapter of the book of Acts. Acts tells the story of the early church, from starting hidden away out of fear of what could happen to them, to being filled with the Holy Spirit and thousands of people coming to believe in Jesus Christ. Only we often leave our summery of Acts there - forgetting all of the struggles that the early church went through. Including persecution. 

In Acts, chapter 6, we meet Stephen, someone who had been selected to oversee the really important ministry of looking after people’s basic needs, such as distributing food to the orphans and the widows and the hurting. Stephen was described as someone full of faith and the Holy Spirit. But he also did powerful wonders and signs amongst the people, to the point where the establishment felt threatened. So people started to argue with and against Stephen, sometimes making up lies against him. Lies that led to him being seized and brought before the council to be interrogated. In chapter 7 Stephen goes on to tell the glorious story of Jesus Christ and what happened? The people stoned him. And he died. 

All thought Acts we find folks being tortured, punished, thrown in jail, beaten, and chased out of town because of their belief in Jesus Christ. So why did they kept proclaiming the name of Jesus through all of this? Because Jesus had so changed their lives there was no going back. They were filled with passion for making Jesus Christ known. 

What about us church? Do we have the passion of the early church? Would we keep standing in the face of persecution? Because often when I hear people throw around the word persecution today it’s not about standing firm so much as having other people change things for you so that the faith is more convient. 

When Jesus spoke on that mountain so long ago and said “blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake”, he was acknowledging a truth that has come down through the ages - there is always, always, always, going to be tension between the things of earth and the things of God. In other words, your faith isn’t meant to be convient. And following Christ is not going to be an easy choice. 

We have tricked ourselves into believing that faith and our response is supposed to be comfortable. But that isn’t what scripture shows us. Hebrews Chapter 11, is often called the Hall of Fame of Faith. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable[c] sacrifice than Cain’s - and Cain killed Abel. By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark - and his neighbors mocked him. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance - one that he believed in but never was able to see himself, and was asked to almost sacrifice his son along the way. By faith Moses was hidden by his parents -and while he was able to see the promise land, he never entered it himself. 

Guess what friends, life wasn’t easy, even for those in this great list of the faithful. Faith didn’t come easy to them either -  it was something that they had to live into, trusting God each and every day. 

We are mistaken throughout this sermon series if we think the word blessed means makes easy or painless or without cost. Instead, Jesus used blessing as an adjective - describing the joy of those who are living into what Jesus is proclaiming. Even when it is hard. Even when it is costly. 

The question for us today, is what does it mean to choose Christ? Paul has a beautiful piece of writing in his letter to the Philippians in the second chapter which is often called the Christ Hymn - which talks about why Christ is God he choose to empty himself and be obedient to the point of death on the cross. Are we that obedient to Christ, my friends? Or do we only choose to follow Christ when we feel that it doesn’t come with a cost or will make us look good?

The truth is, we have enough folks throwing around the word persecution when what they really means they feel uncomfortable or challenged, but that isn’t the same as being persecuted. But I do think it is worthwhile to ask if we were persecuted for righteousness sake, what would our response be? What would our response be if we faced what Stephen faced? Whether we would be with and for Jesus in all circumstances or only when it is beneficial to us?

Friends, I would like to invite us into a time of prayer this morning to truly examine our faith. No one know where you are in your relationship with Jesus except you. May you take time this morning to be in prayer about where you stand with Jesus when things aren’t easy, when they are uncomfortable, when they are costly. Let us pray….